Sir Abraham "Abe" Bailey, 1st Baronet, KCMG (6 November 1864, Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa – 10 August 1940, Muizenberg, South Africa), was a South African diamond tycoon, politician, financier and cricketer.
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Married in 1860 in South Africa, Thomas and Ann Bailey had four children, Mary, Abraham, Susannah and Alice, before Ann Bailey's premature death in 1872, when young Abe was only seven (7) years old.[2] Abe Bailey's mother, Ann Drummond McEwan, was Scottish by birth while his father, Thomas Bailey, was from Yorkshire. Abe Bailey was sent to England to be educated, first at Keighley and later at Clewer House.
Via his business interests and his ties to Cecil John Rhodes, Abe Bailey acquired substantial mining and land properties in the former Rhodesia. By the 1930s he was one of the world's wealthiest men.[2] He was made Baronet in 1919, one of a number of "Randlords" knighted for their services to the British Empire.
Abe Bailey played three first-class matches for Transvaal.
These interests, as much as his aspirations to the titles and the lifestyle of the English landed gentry were influential in the formation of his personal art collection. This collection was mostly displayed in his London home and moved for safe-keeping to the north of England during the Second World War (1939–1945). On his death in 1940 the terms of his will placed his collection under the protection of a special trust established in his name and bequeathed it to the South African nation. Bailey was one of the very few South African Randlords to leave a bequest of this nature to South Africa.
At his specific recommendation, this collection was placed under the curatorship of the South African National Gallery in Cape Town, where it first went on display in 1947. Numbering over 400 items, including paintings, prints and drawings, the "Sir Abe Bailey Bequest" is the largest bequest held at the South African National Gallery to this day. It also constitutes one of the largest collections of British sporting art held by any public art museum in the world. The "Sir Abe Bailey Trust" is actively involved in its maintenance, and conservation work on the collection.
Under the terms of his will annual travel bursaries are awarded to outstanding university students and young academics (less than 26 years old) to travel to the UK to widen their experience.